The Unwilling Vestal Part 36

The next half-ladleful she poured near the spot where the water touched the sieve-rim.

Round near the hoop she dribbled in half-ladleful after half-ladleful until the web of the sieve was entirely covered.

She had moved slowly from the first dip into the river. But now, since she could not see any part of the web of the sieve, she moved yet more slowly.

Commodus began to be impatient.

"That is plenty of water," he said.

"Do you, as Pontifex Maximus," she uttered, "certify that the water now in this sieve is as deep as you stipulated?"

"I," said Commodus in a loud voice, "as Emperor and as Pontifex Maximus, here certify before all men that the water now supported by the web of that sieve is enough to demonstrate the favor of Vesta towards you and your impeccable integrity."

"Back away," said Brinnaria, "I'm going to stand up." She thrust the handle of the ladle through her belt, brushed the towel from her knee and with her right hand also she grasped the sieve. Holding it now in both hands, her eyes on it, she very slowly, inch by inch, rose to her feet. When she was erect, she very slowly drew back her left foot until her two feet were close together.

"Back away," she repeated. "I'm going to turn round." Slowly she pivoted on her firm feet until she was standing with her back to the river.

Commodus at the top of the steps stared down at her.

"Back away," she reiterated, "I'm coming up the steps." Up the steps she came, very slowly. Planted on her right foot she would almost imperceptibly raise and advance her left foot. When it was firm on the step, she would gradually shift her weight to that foot, would very deliberately straighten up and very carefully draw up her right foot until both feet were together. So standing she would breathe several times before she repeated the process.

When she was standing firm on the top step on the level of the Quay platform, she raised both hands until the sieve was level with her chin.

"You have won," Commodus exclaimed. "You have demonstrated your G.o.ddess's favor. The test is over."

An arm's length away stood Calvaster.

"It's a trick!" he cried. "That is not water."

"Not water!" cried Brinnaria.

All the forgotten tomboy of her childish girlhood surged up within her.

The obsolete hoydenishness inside her exploded.

"Not water!" she cried, and smashed the sieve over his head.

The rim on his shoulders, his head protruding from the torn eb, frayed ends of broken horse-hair sticking up round his neck, the water trickling down his clothing and dripping from his thin locks, from his big flaring ears, from the end of his long nose, his face rueful and stultified, he presented a sufficiently absurd appearance.

Commodus, like the overgrown boy he was, burst into roars of laughter.

The Pontiffs laughed, the Senators laughed, even Manlia and Gargilia laughed.

"It's a trick!" Calvaster repeated.

On the face of Commodus mirth gave place to wrath.

"Isn't that enough water for you?" he roared. "Anybody would think, the way you behave, that I am the minor Pontiff and you the Emperor. I'll teach you!" He turned and beckoned a centurion of the guard.

With his file of men he came on the double quick.

"Seize that man!" the Emperor commanded.

Two of the Pretorians gripped Calvaster by the elbows.

"March him out there to the edge," came the next order, the Emperor gesturing towards the quay-front on his right.

At the brink of the platform the Pretorians paused.

"Grab him with both your hands," the Emperor commanded, "and pitch him into the river." Over went Calvaster with a mighty splash.

As all Romans were excellent swimmers he came to the surface almost at once. A few strokes in front of him was the boat with the sieves. To it he swam and Truttidius hauled him aboard and located him on a thwart.

After the general merriment had waned and the laughter had abated Commodus faced the a.s.semblage and raised his hand.

Into the ensuing silence he spoke not as a blundering lad nor as a sportsman, but as a ruler. For the moment, in fact, he looked all the Emperor.

"We have all beheld," he said, "a miracle marvellous and convincing.

As Prince of the Republic, as Chief Pontiff of Rome, I proclaim this Priestess cleared of all imputations whatever. Manifestly she is dear to Vesta, and worthy of the favor she has shown her. Henceforward let no man dare to smirch her with any slur or slander."

CHAPTER XXII - TRIUMPH

IN recognition of Brinnaria's complete and incontrovertible vindication Commodus decreed an unusually sumptuous state banquet at the Palace, inviting to it all the most important personages of the capital, including the more distinguished senators, every magistrate, the higher Pontiffs, the Flamens in a body and most of his personal cronies.

While old-fashioned households, such as that of Vocco and Flexinna, clung to the antique Roman habit of lying down to meals on three rectangular dining-sofas placed on three sides of a square-topped table, this arrangement had long been supplanted at Court by a newer invention.

The mere fact that, from of old, it had been looked upon as the worst sort of bad manners to have more than three diners on a sofa, and as scarcely less ridiculous to have fewer than three, had made the custom vexatious in the extreme, as it constrained all entertainers to arrange for nine guests or eighteen or twenty-seven and ruled out any other more convenient intermediate numbers. In the progressive circles of society and at the Palace, the tables were circular, each supported from the center by one standard with three feet, and each table was clasped, as it were, by a single ample C-shaped sofa on which any number of guests from four to twelve could conveniently recline.

At the Palace banquet in honor of Brinnaria, three tables only were set on the Imperial dais at the head of the dining hall. On one side of the Emperor's table was that where feasted the higher Flamens and Pontiffs, the sofa of the other was occupied by the young Empress, by the wives of the higher Flamens, and by the four Vestals present.

Brinnaria declared that her appet.i.te was as good as on the day when she had returned home from her exile to Aunt Septima's villa.

After two public advertis.e.m.e.nts of the Emperor's favor and esteem she was entirely free from any sort of worry. Her enemies were few, merely Calvaster and his parasites, and they were thoroughly cowed and curbed their tongues. Not only no defamation of her but not even an innuendo gained currency in the gossip of the city during the remainder of her term of service.

Quite the other way. Her fame as a Vestal whose prayers were sure to be heard, at first a source of natural pride and gratification to her, came to be a burden, even a positive misery. There was an immemorial belief that if a Vestal could be induced to pray for the recapture of an escaped slave, such a runaway, if within the boundaries of Rome, would be overcome by a sort of inward numbness which would make it impossible for him to cross the city limits, so that the retaking of such fugitives became easy, as it was only necessary to search the wards for them.

City owners of escaped slaves besieged Brinnaria for years and as it was reported that her intercessions were invariably effective, her fame increased and pet.i.tions for her a.s.sistance pestered her.

She bore the annoyance resignedly, reflecting that, while she was in such repute, no one was likely to impugn her honor.

Life in the Atrium, for the ensuing six years, altered little.

Causidiena, within three years after Brinnaria's ordeal, became totally blind. Care of her devolved particularly upon Terentia, of whom she was dotingly fond.

The routine duties of the maintenance of the sacred fire those two shared, for Causidiena, even stone blind, never required anyone's a.s.sistance to tell her the condition of the altar-fire and could care for it and feed it even alone, judging its needs by the sensations of her outstretched hands, never burning herself, never letting brands or ashes fall on the Temple floor. But in all other matters Causidiena and Terentia were concerned only when their partic.i.p.ation was demanded by canonical regulations, Terentia devoting herself to attendance on Causidiena, while Causidiena officiated only when the presence of the Chief Vesta was indispensable.

For Numisia, Gargilia, Manlia and Brinnaria, their main concern was to arrange that Causidiena should have as little as possible to do and that Terentia might devote as much as possible of her time to entertaining Causidiena. This was not easy to accomplish, for Causidiena's mind was perfectly clear, her knowledge of every inch of the Atrium enabled her to move about it unhesitatingly at all hours of the day and night, her sense of duty urged her to do all that she had ever done when her sight was perfect, and, like most blind persons, she resented any reference, expressed or implied, to her infirmity. Consideration for her called for almost superhuman tact and dexterity. To the best of their ability the four strove to shield her without her being able to perceive their sedulity. To the charm of Terentia's music she, moreover, yielded readily. Music, as never before, occupied the leisure of the Atrium.

During these years Brinnaria was almost entirely happy. Her duties, her solicitude for Causidiena, her affection for Terentia, her delight in her own and Terentia's music filled up most of her time.

Her horse-breeding continued to interest her, but her interest was milder and far from absorbing. She kept it up largely because she regarded her outings as imperatively necessary to maintain her health, while aimless outings bored her.